What is dashi powder?

I want to try and make Takoyaki balls, which is a Japanese food. But there are few ingredients on the recipe that I'm not sure of.



My main question is the dashi powder. What is it? I did search it an image on Google but the wordings are in Japanese. Could it be an "onion powder"? or a "chili powder" maybe? I was just thinking that maybe the word dashi is the Japanese word for either chili, onion, garlic, etc. I'm from US by the way.



Thanks for anyone who could help :)What is dashi powder?
Dashi powder is Japanese soup stock powder and is used extensively in Japanese dishes as the basis for stocks and broths such as miso soup and nikujyaga.



Essential Japanese Pantry Ingredients

http://japan-australia.blogspot.com/2010鈥?/a>
Like others have said, dashi is a Japanese soup stock made with a combination of konbu kelp and katsuobushi bonito flakes that are simmered in water and then strained. The resulting water is infused with the rich flavour of these two ingredients and used in all types of Japanese cooking.



Dashi powder is simply liquid dashi that has been concentrated down into powder which is then reconstituted again with water. There isn't really any substitute for dashi so try and find some at an Asian food shop or online.



It is also quite easy to make your own if you can find the ingredients. I wrote an article about dashi, how it can be used and the method to create it yourself at home if you are interested in reading more.



http://blog.japancentre.com/2011/07/06/w鈥?/a>



If you want to follow any other recipes for making takoyaki, I wrote one here:



http://www.japancentre.com/recipes/22



I hope this helps. Making takoyaki is really fun and I am sure you will enjoy it!What is dashi powder?
Dashi is a Japanese soup stock made with Kombu seaweed, Mirin or Sake, Water, Soya sauce and Bonito shavings (dried and salted tuna), Dashi powder is made with a similar amount of ingredients and dehydrated like chicken base, you can use beef base or and bit of chicken, I have made Takoyaki, when I worked in Japan, I bought a stove top cooker, but you can use a unit called a Pancake Puff pan.



It can be left out if you want to.
http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Dashi-Bon鈥?/a>



It's actually soup stock (probably why you couldn't find it under dashi powder). Most asian grocers have it and at least out here in San Fran where we have a significant Asian presence, most supermarkets that have an ethnic food section also carry it.
dashi powder is readily available in asian stores (%26amp; amazon.com). i keep my box (with foil packets) in the fridge ... great for instant fish soup.